Headset with proximity user interface

• US 10,419,838 B1
• Filed: 09/07/2018
• Issued: 09/17/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Plantronics, Inc. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Criswell, Thomas G, Kiner, Eric, Zhao, Hua, Feng, ShouBo
• Primary Examiner(s): Anwah, Olisa
• Application Number:
  US16/125,451
• Time in Patent Office: 375 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 11/17823 Reference signals, e.g. ambient acoustic environment
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 2210/1081 Earphones, e.g. for telephones, ear protectors or headsets
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 2210/3044 Phase shift, e.g. complex envelope processing
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1016 Earpieces of the intra-aural type
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1041 Mechanical or electronic switches, or control elements switches in general H01H
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2420/07 Applications of wireless loudspeakers or wireless microphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2460/03 Aspects of the reduction of energy consumption in hearing devices

Abstract

A headset with a proximity control is provided. The headset comprises at least a first earpiece, a second earpiece, and a control device. To reduce the power consumption of the headset, the control device is configured to determine proximity between the first earpiece and the second earpiece, and, depending on the determined proximity, to set the headset to a low-power mode, in which at least one component of the headset is disabled to save power.

Claims

1. Headset with a proximity control, comprising at least a first earpiece;

a second earpiece;

a control device; and

at least one user control interface, connected with the control device, wherein the control device is configured to determine proximity between the first earpiece and the second earpiece;

the control device is further configured to, depending on the determined proximity, set the headset to a low-power mode, in which at least one component of the headset is disabled to save power; and

wherein a priority between the user control interface and a control by proximity is user-configurable.

2. The headset of claim 1, wherein one of the first earpiece and the second earpiece comprises a magnetic sensor, connected to the control device, and the respective other of the first earpiece and the second earpiece comprises a magnetic element to determine proximity between the first earpiece and the second earpiece.

3. The headset of claim 2, wherein the magnetic sensor is a hall effect sensor.

4. The headset of claim 1, wherein the control device is configured to determine a proximity value, corresponding to the proximity between the first earpiece and the second earpiece;

and wherein the control device is further configured to compare the determined proximity value with a proximity threshold and to set the headset to the low-power mode in case the proximity value corresponds to the proximity threshold.

5. The headset of claim 1, further comprising a communications module for wireless connection to an audio device, wherein in said low-power mode, the connection to the audio device is disconnected.

6. The headset of claim 5, wherein the communications module is a Bluetooth communications module.

7. The headset of claim 1, further comprising a noise cancellation circuit, wherein in said low-power mode, the noise cancellation circuit is disabled.

8. The headset of claim 1, wherein the control device is further configured to, depending on the determined proximity, to set the headset to an operational mode.

9. The headset of claim 4, wherein the control device is further configured to, in case the proximity value exceeds the proximity threshold, set the headset to an operational mode.

10. The headset of claim 1, wherein the control device is further configured with a predefined power timeout period, so that, after the headset is in the low-power mode longer as the predefined power timeout period, the control device sets the headset to a powered-off mode.

11. The headset of claim 1, wherein the control device is user-configurable, so that in case the headset is set to the low-power mode, one or more user-defined components of the headset are disabled.

12. The headset of claim 1, wherein the first earpiece and the second earpiece are connected by a connection member.